Carl Icahn
Carl Icahn is a billionaire financier, ranking #18 on the 2007 Forbes 400 list with an estimated net worth of $14.5 billion.
Icahn built a name for himself in the 1980s as a corporate raider. After keeping quite for years, Icahn made a major comeback as a 'activist investor'. An activist investor agitates companies for changes, including buyouts, share buybacks, and dividend increases.
Icahn has successfully pushed for changes at Time Warner (NYSE: TWX) and Temple-Inland (NYSE: TIN), among others. Icahn won board seats at Motorola (NYSE: MOT) after first failing.
In 2007, Icahn's activism successfully pushed biotech company MedImmune into a sales agreement with AstraZeneca (NYSE: AZN). Icahn is also involved with biotech company Imclone Systems (Nasdaq: IMCL), where he is Chairman of the Board.
In early, 2008 Icahn activist target BEA Systems (Nasdaq: BEAS) was sold to Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL). Icahn held a 13% stake in BEA.
Icahn is also involved with developments at Biogen Idec (Nasdaq: BIIB) and WCI Communities (NYSE: WCI), which both unsuccessfully explored sales. WCI rejected a $22 per share takeover offer from Icahn in early 2007, only to see its stock plummet on the housing slowdown.
In 2008, Icahn targeted Yahoo! (Nasdaq: YHOO) after the Internet company failed to work out an acceptable merger agreement with Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Microsoft walked away from its bid for Yahoo! after months of bickering.
Carl Icahn's Portfolio
| Company | Ticker | # of Shares | Change | Price | Value | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ICAHN ENT DEP UTS | IEP | 367,879,902 | +367,879,902 | $16.89 | $6,213,491,545 | History » | Related Stories » |
| CVR ENERGY, Inc. | CVI | 66,692,381 | +66,692,381 | $32.55 | $2,170,837,002 | History » | Related Stories » |
| SOUTHWEST GAS CORPORATION | SWX | 11,022,604 | +11,022,604 | $73.18 | $806,634,161 | History » | Related Stories » |
| CBC Holding Company | BHC | 34,721,118 | +34,721,118 | $8.60 | $298,601,615 | History » | Related Stories » |
| FirstEnergy Corp | FE | 5,887,171 | +5,887,171 | $37.63 | $221,534,245 | History » | Related Stories » |
| DANA HOLDINGS CORP. | DAN | 14,286,505 | +14,286,505 | $12.01 | $171,580,926 | History » | Related Stories » |
| American Electric Power | AEP | 1,205,300 | +1,205,300 | $82.56 | $99,509,568 | History » | Related Stories » |
| SANDRIDGE ENERGY, Inc. | SD | 4,818,832 | +4,818,832 | $14.32 | $69,005,675 | History » | Related Stories » |
| Intl Flavors & Fragrances | IFF | 644,510 | +644,510 | $83.60 | $53,881,036 | History » | Related Stories » |
| Illumina, Inc. | ILMN | 430,000 | +430,000 | $116.69 | $50,176,700 | History » | Related Stories » |
| Newell Rubbermaid Co. | NWL | 5,940,744 | +5,940,744 | $6.91 | $41,050,542 | History » | Related Stories » |
